Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Mystery Spin the First

The First Mystery Spin video is up. Link here. I hope you like the video.

Show notes:



Main skein – Wpi 13, 214 yards, 3.65 oz, DK
Small skein – Wpi 13, 30 yards, .50 oz, DK
I only lost about .05 oz in the processing and prep. One of the fibers had quite a bit of small vegetable matter within, which you saw me picking out. The mini skein is entirely the second strand plied onto itself and I think it would make a nice finishing edge. I am not entirely happy with this spin up, the second strand is less showy but spun up nicely  and I like it better. The combination of having both cotton and silk – I said they weren’t in the bin, but I was wrong, the soft creamy stuff in the unveiling section is cotton – made for a difficult spin. I have a balanced yarn here, but I am not as happy with it as I would be if the entire yarn was the second strand’s colorway. In deciding how I would spin this up I chose to put most of the angora, lighter colored alpaca, mohair, all of the silk and all of the cotton into the first strand. The darker colors (Merino, Lincoln Longwool, Wensleydale, alpaca and glitter) went to the second strand so set myself up for this issue, but I had a good reason, I wanted the stable length of the silk to help stabilize the shortness of the cotton. I do feel that this was helpful, but maybe not as much as I hoped.  I did go through the bin again to make certain (touch wood) that all the cotton and silk are out of the bin I have set up for my mystery spin selectors to pick from. I added some more stuff while I was there so I am looking forward to the next one.
I am working on my framing and hoping that some changes I am making to my set-up will improve the visibility of my hands in the shots. If you have suggestions, I welcome them, both in video and in what you would be interested in me working on. I have the next mystery spin box made, this time by a dear friend, and am working on a spin of brown sheep wool that I dyed and a silk blending. The next podcast will be a catch up chat so you can see more of what I have been working on!
The apron I am wearing in so many of the shots is recycled men’s silk ties. The silk helps the wool not to stick to me so I don’t arrive to pick my kids up from school looking like a sheep. My dad suggested making another in different colors might help the video, so I am gathering a few more for that project.
I am thinking about either making the Super Eyelet Shawl by Fiona Wright or weaving with it. I would love to hear your thoughts.

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